


Axe it! - or not? Meta on writing and fixing long stories.

by syredronning



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Fix-It, Meta, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 04:10:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21451804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syredronning/pseuds/syredronning
Summary: Originally written for some group - I can't even remember which one - this is a meta look at fixing long stories that don't work as expected.(I refer to my series Draws at times, but it's general meta. For a detailed look at fixing the story "Shadowplay", see https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350497.)





	Axe it! - or not? Meta on writing and fixing long stories.

Axe it! - or not?

When I suggested the subject of big story overhauls, I felt a little weird - shouldn't the first discussion center on something more encouraging? But this isn't a group of only beginners; many of us write for years and sit on a mix of old drafts and new drafts and possibly a story they desperately try to finish before the new movie josses it. So let's get right into heart of the matter – today we're taking a hard look at stories that are quite done when we suddenly realize that something **big** doesn't work.

**Top signs that your whole story doesn't work**

  * Your trusted beta sends feedback with criticism on the thinly veiled level of "it's major bullshit, can I please get the real story?!" They might word it a lot more nicely but you'll know they're right if you feel that sudden pang of realization that your story isn't up to par with your work and fandom standards. 
  * Your trusted beta sends feedback like "OMG this was so sad, I thought about it for two days and I didn't even want to read it another time" when you actually wanted to deliver a _happy_ story! Or vice versa, a sad story feels funny, a tragic story feels over-the-top, a touching story feels like schmoop written by a ten-year-old. 
  * Your trusted beta sends feedback that the clever new part of your story doesn't work for her at all within the context of your larger series. A big warning flag if your series focuses on world and character building.

I know, I mention the beta reader / editor here a lot. Unfortunately, we as the writers often have a hard time to identify our big fails. We might know it's not our best stories, but to face the brutal truth can be hard when it's your cherished baby on which you've worked for weeks or months. Therefore, even if you don't work with an editor for line edits, consider giving a story you're not sure about to a "pre-reader" for a check and general feedback. 

**What do to with the big fail**  
If – after having had a brutally honest look at your story – you decide that it's really a fail, these may be some of your options, from hardest to easiest:

  * Delete it all and write another story. It hurts a lot, but sometimes it's just the best solution. I canned my whole first draft that should've introduced my original female character into my Draws series (9.000 words) and ended up writing 80.000 words to accomplish the same goal. Clearly not for the weak of heart! However, more often you'll drop a story of maybe 5K and write a better one of similar length for it. Salvage the good ideas you had and start anew. The advantage of deleting it all is that you start with a clean slate for your second attempt. Often, working over a story takes a lot longer than writing something new. 
  * Give the story a major overhaul. This can be anything from changing from normal universe to AU or MU; changing the story POV or the voice it's written in; introduce or remove characters; or if you have other fandoms, maybe it works better for those. Check the major segments of the story and see if e.g. one half of the story works and another doesn't. Consider adding a completely different start or ending to the story than you originally had in mind (listen carefully to suggestions of your beta here, if she has any). See whether you can write a frame story and turn your former story into a dream sequence or a fever vision – a traditional fix in TV series! Sometimes, what looks like a major overhaul will turn out to need only some tweaking, which is good for you. But when starting the overhaul, be ready to sacrifice half or even two-thirds of your story to save the rest.
  * Post it anyway. Yes, that's a solution too. Sometimes we're pressed for time, or we consider our story good enough, despite the beta's criticism. The Internet is big and someone will always like your story, maybe just for an unusual subject or strange kink. If you write for a challenge, you might share the pain of your recipient that the story isn't good, but you'll both survive it – if the alternative is that you don't post anything at all, it will look like you didn't even try. 

Thankfully, big fails are relatively rare. More often, the realization that something in your story just isn't _round_ creeps up during the writing process. 

** Top signs that something major doesn't work**

  * The story writing doesn't move naturally from start to ending. If you need to force your characters into compliance every single step of the development, your vision isn't in alignment with their situation. (Short moments of resistance are totally naturally, though ;)
  * The story feels too long and boring. While long isn't per se a bad thing (also, _long_ is a personal definition!), it can be a sign that the story is floundering, out of scope and losing itself in subplots without tackling the main plot. Trust your emotions when re-reading your story after a small break – if you or your characters feel bored, it's a warning sign. Similarly, the story can be too short for what you try to put inside, making it hectic and disorganized and likely to leave your future readers confused too.
  * You find you've written too much of yourself into the characters and it doesn't work for them. Sometimes our subconscious will get the better of us and make us put our own current pain points into the story (see discussion here of last week). I don't think that's necessarily a problem, but it might be if the characters don't fit to it. Also, when writing slash, look out for being too "female" in the story subjects and your approaches to solutions.

**What do to with the major failures**  
Often, fixing these problems is like precision surgery, so it might take up quite some time. Don't get discouraged in the process, it's worth the work :)  
Most of the following approaches I learned from the cool book [The Dramatic Writer's Companion](http://www.amazon.com/The-Dramatic-Writers-Companion-Characters/dp/0226172546/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1), which was written for theater plays but I found it perfect for long stories too. Here some suggestions:

**Do a classic story analysis.** Often, this is recommended before writing, but doing it retroactive works just as well, especially for troubleshooting. 

Story in whole:

  * What's the premise? (one sentence)
  * Event that starts the story (may happen in a prequel)
  * Effects
  * Obstacles, internal and external
  * Development of the main character(s)
  * General feeling of the story (e.g. a list of adjectives that you would associate with it; might be only doable after act analysis)

Per "act" (or whatever parts your story has, mine really often have three acts):

  * What happens? (a few sentences, might be separated in personal and business aspects)
  * Antagonists
  * Allies
  * General feeling
  * End point

I admit, this analysis might make you feel like you've started a second job as novel writer! Try it anyway if you just can't find out what exactly is going wrong in your story.

**Based on the analysis, clear the big problems**  
Especially look out for:

  * a weak antagonist – the story will start to flounder if your antagonist is too weak. The hero must be in serious trouble, possibly also under time pressure or other restraints.
  * superfluous characters: if characters are neither allies nor antagonists, they tend to end as merely decorative. Keep a few to add some spice and local color to your scenes, but make sure they don't take up too much space. In fanfiction, I'd recommend you mostly use canon characters e.g. the bridge crew. For original characters, keep them sketchy, like "the bartender, the engineer from Ship XX".
  * acts and chapters of very different sizes. This might be a sign for story imbalance – check that the major plot points in each act get enough coverage and that the subplots get enough but not too much. If necessary, remove subplots and strengthen the main plot.

After getting the larger problems under control – often, it's only one or two aspects that need to get fixed – you can look at the details.

**Fine-tune your story **  
From top down, check for each act / chapter /paragraph:

  * Does this segment work in the big scope? Does it move the story forward – does it tell something new, reveal something, build up to something?
  * Does everything in it need to be said? Sometimes, keeping the really big, important things as "unspoken truth" in the background can be extremely powerful. (Example: In Reboot fandom, Jim being abused by Frank or Jim having been on Tarsus is often one of those unspoken truths in the underlying fabric of a story.) We writers all have our unspoken backstories of the characters in our head, but it's good to remember what they are at times, so write it down it if helps your analysis.
  * Does the right character say it? The classic rule is that in a scene, the character who's got to lose the most should be the main character. This obviously won't always work, depending on how your story is written (first or second person, omniscient or limited POV) but keep this rule in mind – I found it really brings a lot more energy into the scene if the stakes are high.

If the segment doesn't work with the character you used, see if you can change it, e.g. by

  * having the character relate the story as a text message of vid recording (don't overdo this approach)
  * writing the same scene from another character's POV entirely
  * having this or another character speaking about the scene much later, long after it happened and in another context
  * removing the scene and adding the facts to the character backstory in your head for possible later use..

If you read up to here, congratulations! I hope I could give you some inspiration on how to tackle your writing challenges, and am looking forward to all of your interesting experiences and ideas – there're never enough tips and tricks around for fixing story fails :) 

Hugs from Europe and may your muses always be cooperative –  
AcidQueen aka syredronning


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